One of the most vital things for the website would be the first impression which will set the expectations for the rest of the website visit. It takes a user approximately 17 milliseconds to form an opinion on your website, meaning they will mainly orientate by visuals. In order to create the appropriate first impression I need to utilise the design to create an automatic association within the user to gaming, and most importantly portray/explain that the main event is a festival.
To do that, I studied visuals of other videogame festival websites and compared their UI designs in order to find the common theme that I could incorporate into my own designs. I paid close attention to the colours, typefaces and styles so I could replicate something similar. I came to a realisation that using the “Pixelify” typeface helps the most due to its association with retro videogames as well as modern stylised indie games which use Aseprite.
Colour is an important part of the UI since it can help fix or break the compositional hierarchy. I will avoid using a large colour pallet as well as a complimentary colour pallet since it would overcrowd the UI and could disorientate the user, especially those who are more used to professional and tamer websites. In order to help highlight important UI elements, I have changed their colour to a colour that is directly next to it on the colour wheel and made it lighter, this helps to avoid creating a very harsh contrast between colours whilst creating a big enough colour difference to bring attention to the elements.
References.
- Memon, M. (2021). The 21 Main UX Laws Every Designer Must Follow + Examples. [online] Maze. Available at: https://maze.co/collections/ux-ui-design/ux-laws/.
- Belicove, M.E. (2012). A New Study Reveals the Power of First Impressions Online. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/science-technology/a-new-study-reveals-the-power-of-first-impressions-online/223150.